The documented record of the European explorers and settlers of the region began in Mexico in the 1530s with Spaniards who wrote about the legend of Eldorado and the Seven Golden Cities of Cíbola. In 1539 Fray Marcos de Niza, a Franciscan priest, entered Arizona in search of riches and hoping to find Native Americans to convert to Christianity. Fearful of the hostility he faced from the indigenous people, Fray Marcos returned to Mexico and reported misleadingly about the places he visited. The following year Francisco Vázquez de Coronado led a large well-armed expedition to Arizona in ... (100 of 6,912 words)